[Red Moon]

Roles reversed in politically-correct remake of Love Thy Neighbour

Love Thy Neighbour, the controversial Seventies sitcom about racially feuding neighbours, is back – but this time with a politically correct makeover.

In a reversal of the original format, it features a professional black couple who are horrified when a boorish, white working-class family move in next door.

Derek Laud, the gay former Celebrity Big Brother contestant, will play Sebastian, a black barrister.

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Love Thy Neighbour: The Seventies sitcom starred Jack Smethurst and Rudolph Walker

He said: "Sebastian and his wife Andrea [played by Naomi Mayo], an architect, are expecting a middle-class black couple to move in next door, so when this white working-class builder type turns up, they assume he is the removal man.

"He is called Simon and his wife, who works in a laundrette, is Edna. They have recently won the Lottery and are absolutely dreadful.

"She comes out of the house in slippers and a nightdress, showing her cleavage all the time and smoking cigarettes. He wears gold chains and trainers and is revolting."

But Mr Laud, a former political lobbyist and Tory speechwriter, denied the new show could be interpreted as racist.

He said: "Not at all. It's quite provocative but a positive representation of black people in modern Britain.

"Wherever I go in Britain I find people asking, 'When are black people going to be portrayed on TV in a more positive way?'"

Role reversal: Naomi Mayo and Derek Laud are the professional couple who find that their new neighbours are boorish, white and working class

The hugely successful original show, which ran from 1972 to 1976 and starred Jack Smethurst, Kate Williams, Rudolph Walker and Nina Baden-Semper, was often attacked for promoting racial stereotypes.

But its defenders claimed it had been written to reduce racial friction by showing bigotry at its most ridiculous.

These days Love Thy Neighbour is rarely referred to without prompting a national shudder. Any talk of rescreening it is usually met with fierce resistance.

The new six-part series, being made by Airedale TV, will be broadcast on Channel 4. Executive producer Michael Desmond said: "The show is a satire which reflects how attitudes to race and class have changed in Britain over 30 years.

"It's what the politically correct have been waiting years for."

Vince Powell, the original show's creator and writer, said he had not been informed about plans to update it.

"The producers should have had the courtesy to ring me," he added.

"The format rights are held by Thames TV and myself so I will have to consult people about this.

"It wasn't racist, it was evenly balanced and I have never been able to understand why the original could not be repeated."

Airedale TV's Michael Desmond, the show's executive producer, said Mr Powell would be consulted at a later stage.

Source: Daily Mail